The invention relates to a motor vehicle opening-leaf handle of the kind including a handle support which is fixed on the inside of an outer bodywork panel of the opening leaf.
More specifically, the object of the invention is to allow the support to be fitted quickly and simply onto the bodywork panel. Specifically, the fixing means must be easy for the person carrying out assembly to implement and most reliably lock the support onto the panel.
To this end, the invention proposes a motor vehicle opening-leaf handle of the kind including a handle support which is fixed on the inside of an outer bodywork panel of the opening leaf, wherein the handle support includes catching tabs which attach the handle support to the panel, each tab including a linking foot and a catching end, the support is fitted on the panel through an approach movement perpendicular to the panel, from the inside outward, during which the tabs are engaged through an opening in the panel, and through a catching movement in a direction parallel to the panel, during which the catching end of the tab comes to face an exterior face of the bodywork panel, preventing any transversely inward retreat of the tab and of the support.
According to other features of the invention:
during the approach movement, the support is brought as far as an intermediate fitting position in which it is in contact with an interior face of the bodywork panel;
during the catching movement, the support is brought as far as a final position in which locking means prevent the support returning to its intermediate fitting position;
the locking means include at least one elastic arm a free end of which bears against an interior face of the bodywork panel as long as the support is between its intermediate fitting position and its final position, and, when the support reaches its final position, the end of the elastic arm collaborates with a locking cutout formed in the panel;
when the support is in the final position, the foot of at least one of the tabs bears against a bearing edge of the panel so as to determine the final position of the support;
the support includes at least two tabs which are offset one with respect to the other in a direction perpendicular to the catching direction, and the two tabs are intended to come to bear respectively against two bearing edges of the opening in the panel which are at an angle with respect to the catching direction and which run in directions which are approximately symmetric with respect to the catching direction, so as to determine the position of the support in the two directions of the plane of the panel;
the handle includes a member for grasping, which is arranged on the outside of the bodywork panel and which is fixed to the handle support;
the grasping member is articulated to the support so as to be able to be brought from a position of rest to a position for opening;
the locking means include a locking body fitted with an attachment tang which, when the handle support has reached its final position, is engaged transversely inward through an orifice made in the outer bodywork panel so as to be engaged in a complementary cavity in the handle support in such a way that a rear lateral surface of the tang bears against a rear edge of the orifice so as to prevent the assembly formed by the support and by the locking body from returning to the intermediate fitting position;
the opening leaf includes an internal space delimited by two panels, inner and outer, which are connected by an edge panel, the handle support is arranged in the interior space of the opening leaf, and the handle includes a member for immobilizing the tang in the cavity of the support, the immobilizing member being fitted so that it can move on the handle support and being maneuvered between an unlocked position and an immobilizing position by a maneuvering mechanism which can be manipulated through an opening made in the edge panel of the opening leaf;
the immobilizing member is fitted so that it can slide in the support in a direction perpendicular to the transverse direction of engagement of the locking body, and the immobilizing member includes at least one lug which, in the immobilizing position, is housed in a complementary housing in the tang of the locking body to prevent the possibility of the locking body being extracted transversely outward;
the lug and the housing collaborate via two complementary surfaces which are inclined with respect to the transverse direction of engagement of the locking body and with respect to the direction of sliding of the immobilizing member so that, when the immobilizing member is brought into its immobilizing position, the locking body is urged transversely inward by the lug of the immobilizing member;
the tang of the locking body is guided in sliding in the transverse direction in the handle support;
the immobilizing member has the shape of a U-shaped yoke with two parallel longitudinal branches connected at their rear end by a base which runs at right angles to the two branches and at right angles to the transverse direction, the yoke is introduced longitudinally from front to rear as far as a forward unlocked position, into a complementary slideway arranged at the rear of the support, and the yoke is brought by the maneuvering means longitudinally rearward as far as its immobilizing position in which the lugs formed at the front ends of each branch are engaged in corresponding housings in the tang of the locking body, the latter then being housed between the two longitudinal branches of the immobilizing yoke;
the handle support includes means for prepositioning the immobilizing member which, while the handle is being fitted, hold it in its unlocked position;
the maneuvering means consist of a threaded rod of longitudinal axis which is screwed into the base of the yoke, the front end of which bears against a surface which is longitudinally fixed, and the rear end of which exhibits a socket which complements that of a manipulating tool which can be introduced through the opening in the edge panel of the opening leaf;
the threaded rod rests against a lateral surface of the tang of the locking body; and
the locking body may house a latch.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from reading the detailed description which follows, for an understanding of which reference will be made to the appended drawings, in which: